Nicola Willis kept quiet about TVNZ political editor’s alleged slur due to ‘concern for the individual’ targeted

Tuesday, 28 April 2026

Lloyd Burr, Nicola Willis and Maiki Sherman.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis says she kept quiet about a late-night incident at her office last year involving TVNZ political editor Maiki Sherman and Stuff reporter Lloyd Burr, out of concern for Burr.

She denied having any involvement in a blog post published on Tuesday by political commentator Ani O’Brien - a former National Party press secretary - which set out allegations that Sherman had directed a slur at Burr during a drinks event at Willis’ office in the days before the Budget.

Sherman was named in O’Brien’s blog, which outlined the alleged events on May 13 last year.

Willis, asked by journalists, subsequently confirmed she had hosted a function for press gallery journalists ahead of last year’s Budget and, after leaving the room for a few minutes, had “returned to hear offensive language being used. I ended the event at that point”.

“The following day, I checked in on the welfare of the reporter at whom the language was directed. He advised me he did not want to take the matter any further. I respected his decision.”

Asked about the incident at Parliament on Tuesday afternoon, Willis said when she had returned to the room “clearly a dispute had broken out between a couple of the journalists. A slur was used, a word that I didn’t enjoy hearing, that I don’t think should ever be used”.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Burr’s employer, Stuff, said, “Stuff Group stands by, and has complete faith in, Lloyd Burr’s account of the events and his conduct in Minister Willis’ office last May. We will continue to respect his wishes not to comment further on what occurred that night.”

TVNZ told The Post it didn’t comment on employment matters. Sherman also has not responded to a request for comment, with her phone going to voicemail.

Willis said she had not spoken about the alleged incident until now.

“I absolutely have not been involved in talking to that blogger … and in fact I have worked to keep it as private as possible due to my concern for the individual who was the subject of the slur and their desire for it not to enter the public domain.

“That has been their views, which has been paramount for me, so I have not been commenting on it for that reason, but I recognise that I’m publicly accountable, and so the comments I’ve offered are in respect of that.”